Later That Night
by RiteOnTime
Summary: Since I was frustrated with the fact that Rick did not talk about Annabeth expressing her feelings, I wrote my own version of how she and Percy would broach the topic. Set the night after they were rescued from Tartarus in "The House of Hades." I do not own anything from the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus series.


Despite being exhausted and relieved that I was no longer in Tartarus, images of what Percy and I had been through flashed through my head. As a demigod, I had done many dangerous things, but nothing would ever amount to this. I didn't want to go to sleep for fear of the nightmares that would plague me. Considering my nightmares were already pretty bad as it was, I wasn't looking forward to them now.

Percy and I had come back several hours ago, and everyone was nice enough to give us the night off so that we could rest. But, for me at least, it didn't seem like that was going to happen. When I was in Damasen's hut I didn't have a problem with sleeping, but at the time I had Percy with me and I hadn't slept in such a long time then. I wished that I could talk to Nico about it, but he was already gone and he seemed somewhat put off as well.

At some point I would fall asleep though, right? My brain is a muscle, and muscles get tired, so my brain had to at some point. Until it did get worn out, I tried to think of other things besides Tartarus. The first thing that came to mind was that I had now told Percy I loved him a total of two times and he hadn't even acknowledged it. Sure, the second time we were both pretty positive we were falling to our deaths, but I know he heard me the first time. So why hadn't he said anything?

Of course this is what I chose to worry about. Never mind the fact that Gaia was probably going to rise by the end of the month and in order to do so she was going to kill two of The Seven. I _had_ to think about something that I shouldn't be worried over. We could all die any second, which was precisely why I should be spending my time thinking of ways to stay alive. Everyone was looking to me to be the strategist, but I couldn't get my mind off the fact that I had told my boyfriend I loved him and he hadn't said it back.

I rolled over on my bed and readjusted my pillows, but it didn't help. With a sigh I shifted onto my back and looked up at the ceiling of my dark room. There was a sliver of light seeping in under my door from the hallway outside. It would've been nice if I could be with Percy.

Not like I meant that in the "I want to have sex with him as a way to forget all my problems" kind of way, but in the "I could really use someone to just be here" way. Plus we had both gone through this together and maybe he was feeling the same way I was. Sometimes it could be hard to tell, especially right now when he was trying to be strong for me. I also wanted to be strong for him, but it's hard when you're so shaken.

He seemed shaken, too, especially considering what happened with Bob. Percy is extremely loyal and I think him seeing someone else as dedicated to him as he is to everyone else was hard. Neither of us knew what happened to Bob, but it was hard not to assume the worst. I knew he felt guilty, and though Bob did what Percy would have done for one of his friends, he would probably never forgive himself.

With another sigh I shifted onto my side to try to get comfortable. It wasn't that late yet, but I knew how important it was to get sleep when you could. Especially when you don't know when you'll next be able to rest. I still couldn't bring myself to close my eyes though.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a slight movement and then an increase of the amount of light in my room. I didn't know if someone was coming to tell me we were in trouble, so I got up, sword in hand, and rushed to the door. In a few short steps I reached the door and threw it open, throwing the person on the opposite side off balance.

"Percy!" I whispered loudly. He stood there with his tousled dark hair and vibrant green eyes, wearing just a white shirt, blue boxers, and a confused expression. Maybe he thought I would be asleep, so the sword in my hand might have been a little off-putting. Percy of all people should understand why I would have it though; after losing my dagger, I felt somewhat vulnerable and I felt a little safer with the dragon-bone sword.

After a brief moment he moved closer to me, but I stayed still. He put his hand on my right wrist and moved it down so the sword was pointing at the ground while moving into the room. His free hand went to my other wrist, moved it off the door handle, and then he closed the door. I couldn't see his face, but I thought that I knew what was there; he was sad and he was anxious and I understood that. Being down there had taken a lot out of us. It was too soon to tell if Tartarus had kept anything permanently.

His hand was still on the wrist holding my sword. I didn't know what to do because I didn't know why he was here. It didn't seem like he was trying to make a move or anything. Maybe he just needed some comfort.

I finally moved after standing there for almost a minute. I took my sword into my left hand and placed it against the wall next to the door before leading Percy over to my bed. He sat down on the edge and I sat with him and his hand moved from my wrist to my hand. For a while we sat, me looking at him and him looking at the floor with our hands intertwined.

This wasn't like him, this wasn't like my Percy. I cursed the gods and the Fates for everything we had been through. What if now he had had enough? What if this had broken him? He was strong though, and I hoped that he would be okay despite the fact that I didn't even know if I would be. It's a lot to expect from two teenagers. Percy wasn't even 17 yet.

Finally, he turned to look at me. "I'm sorry I'm being so weird," he started, and I saw the corners of his mouth turn up in a faint smile. Hopefully my worries weren't a reality, and so far he seemed okay. "I couldn't sleep."

"Neither could I."

"I just keep seeing everything and going over everything and I'm worried about Bob…" He trailed off and looked down again. I squeezed his hand to reassure him, but I didn't know if it was even possible to do that.

"There is one thing that kind of sticks out from everything else." Percy looked back at me and I saw a remnant of that mischievous smile he used to wear. I loved that smile.

"Tell me," I answered simply. It was important to me that we be there for each other. Maybe it seemed like we had fallen back together after being apart for so long, and in many ways we had, but we had both missed important parts of each other's lives. I didn't want to miss anything ever again.

Then he really smiled like the way it was last summer when I gave him his blue birthday cake. And at that I couldn't help smiling in return. "What?" I asked him with a slight nervous laugh thrown in.

"You told me you love me," he said simply. Thank the gods for the fact that there was limited light because I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. Of all the times to bring something like this up, he had to bring it up now. It was easier when I thought that we were going to die, and when he saved me from Octavian. He moved his free hand to cup my cheek and I heard a laugh escape his lips.

"Don't be embarrassed!" he said with a hint of laughter. I scowled at him before replying.

"That's easy for you to say." And then he kissed me. It wasn't anything heated, but it was nice and sweet and exactly what I needed. He moved his hand from my cheek and put it back by his side.

"You don't have to say it, too. The first time was because you saved me and I—ʺ

"This happened more than once?" he interrupted. I guess either he hadn't heard me while we were falling or wasn't paying attention when he saved me.

"Umm… Yeah… The second was when we were falling. I didn't want my last words to be anything stupid, so I told you I love you." If it was at all possible, my cheeks burned even more. I was sure that through the darkness Percy could see them lighting up like glow-sticks.

He laughed again, though for the life of me I could not figure out why. "I will never again complain about you calling me Seaweed Brain," he said once he stopped laughing. Then it made a little more sense. "The one I remember was when I saved you from Octavian. I'm sorry I didn't say anything before now, but I was kind of nervous and I thought you had just said it without thinking and I didn't know if you meant—ʺ

That's when I kissed him. It was like earlier, except longer and I was smiling somewhat. What an idiot! How could he not know how much he meant to me?

"I meant it you doofus," I said pulling back to look at him as best I could in the dark. He was really smiling still and that made me happy. At least together we could fight back against all of the horrible things that had happened.

"Okay, can I ask you something that you won't take the wrong way?" I nodded and I guess he saw it because he continued. "Is it okay if I sleep in here tonight? I won't try anything and I'll sleep on the floor if you want but I don't want to be alone." At first I was taken aback by what he was asking until I realized that that's what I wanted, too. There was no way I was going to be able to get to sleep on my own, at least not tonight.

Without saying anything I moved to the top of my bed and pulled my sheets over me. I beckoned to Percy and even though he probably couldn't see me, he understood what I meant. He crawled over next to me and got under the sheets, but stayed far enough away so that there was almost a foot between us. With a sigh I turned onto my side with my back to him, grabbed his arm, and pulled so that he would move closer to me.

For once he wasn't a Seaweed Brain and he did what I asked. He shifted behind me and draped his arm across my stomach. I started to feel safe again and I wasn't thinking about the things we had been through. Rather I was thinking about the stupid things he did and how much I loved him for it.

We didn't say anything for a while and I felt myself drifting to sleep when Percy shook me a little. "Annabeth," he whispered. I was somewhat annoyed that he was seriously going to keep me awake when I was finally about to fall asleep.

"What?" I whispered back, my annoyance visible in my tone.

"I just wanted to tell you I love you," he said simply. And with that he seemed done with pestering me. Maybe "pestering" wasn't exactly the right word. He was just trying to be sweet. I pulled on his arm again and he moved closer to me and I shifted back into him. With Percy I felt like there was every chance we would save the world from being destroyed.


End file.
